Allies and adversaries: the complex dynamics of NGO-grassroots alliances in the UK environmental movement

This project explores the dynamics of alliances between environmental NGOs and grassroots groups in the UK. There is a dominant narrative in social movement scholarship which assumes that alliances are inherently beneficial-lending legitimacy to members, enabling them to share resources and reach new constituencies (Van Dyke, 2022). This research interrogates this assumption. Based on in-depth qualitative interviews with 71 environmental practitioners, the study reveals that NGO-grassroots alliances also often reinforce existing hierarchies, both within and between groups. It addresses three core questions:

1. How do NGOs engage with grassroots groups, and why do they engage in the ways that they do?
2. How and why do grassroots groups engage with one another?
3. What do these dynamics reveal about the broader challenges and implications of
coalitional politics in the environmental movement?

The project draws on two key theoretical perspectives: epistemic injustice (Fricker, 2007), which helps explain how grassroots knowledge is often overlooked or marginalised in alliances; and prefigurative politics (Boggs, 1977), which shows how grassroots organising practices can unintentionally reproduce the inequalities they seek to challenge.

The study shows how while NGOs often provide material support to grassroots groups, they often fail to ensure grassroots groups can participate in shared decision-making. These dynamics position NGOs as "powerful givers", ultimately reinforcing unequal power relations. Such issues also arise between grassroots groups themselves, pointing to wider challenges of inclusion, representation, and justice within the movement.